G10L25/00—Speech or voice analysis techniques not restricted to a single one of groups G10L15/00-G10L21/00

G10L25/93—Discriminating between voiced and unvoiced parts of speech signals

G10L2025/935—Mixed voiced class; Transitions

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the variable rate coding of a speech signal. An input speech signal is classified and an appropriate coding mode is selected based on this classification. For each classification, the coding mode that achieves the lowest bit rate with an acceptable quality of speech reproduction is selected. Low average bit rates are achieved by only employing high fidelity modes (i.e., high bit rate, broadly applicable to different types of speech) during portions of the speech where this fidelity is required for acceptable output. Lower bit rate modes are used during portions of speech where these modes produce acceptable output. Input speech signal is classified into active and inactive regions. Active regions are further classified into voiced, unvoiced, and transient regions. Various coding modes are applied to active speech, depending upon the required level of fidelity. Coding modes may be utilized according to the strengths and weaknesses of each particular mode. The apparatus dynamically switches between these modes as the properties of the speech signal vary with time. And where appropriate, regions of speech are modeled as pseudo-random noise, resulting in a significantly lower bit rate. This coding is used in a dynamic fashion whenever unvoiced speech or background noise is detected.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/713,758, filed Nov. 14, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,136,812, issued Nov. 14, 2006 which is entitled “Variable Rate Speech Coding,” and currently assigned to the assignee of the present application and which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/217,341, filed Dec. 21, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,084, issued Feb. 10, 2004 which is entitled “Variable Rate Speech Coding,” and currently assigned to the assignee of the present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the coding of speech signals. Specifically, the present invention relates to classifying speech signals and employing one of a plurality of coding modes based on the classification.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many communication systems today transmit voice as a digital signal, particularly long distance and digital radio telephone applications. The performance of these systems depends, in part, on accurately representing the voice signal with a minimum number of bits. Transmitting speech simply by sampling and digitizing requires a data rate on the order of 64 kilobits per second (kbps) to achieve the speech quality of a conventional analog telephone. However, coding techniques are available that significantly reduce the data rate required for satisfactory speech reproduction.

The term “vocoder” typically refers to devices that compress voiced speech by extracting parameters based on a model of human speech generation. Vocoders include an encoder and a decoder. The encoder analyzes the incoming speech and extracts the relevant parameters. The decoder synthesizes the speech using the parameters that it receives from the encoder via a transmission channel. The speech signal is often divided into frames of data and block processed by the vocoder.

Vocoders built around linear-prediction-based time domain coding schemes far exceed in number all other types of coders. These techniques extract correlated elements from the speech signal and encode only the uncorrelated elements. The basic linear predictive filter predicts the current sample as a linear combination of past samples. An example of a coding algorithm of this particular class is described in the paper “A 4.8 kbps Code Excited Linear Predictive Coder,” by Thomas E. Tremain et al., Proceedings of the Mobile Satellite Conference, 1988.

These coding schemes compress the digitized speech signal into a low bit rate signal by removing all of the natural redundancies (i. e., correlated elements) inherent in speech. Speech typically exhibits short term redundancies resulting from the mechanical action of the lips and tongue, and long term redundancies resulting from the vibration of the vocal cords. Linear predictive schemes model these operations as filters, remove the redundancies, and then model the resulting residual signal as white gaussian noise. Linear predictive coders therefore achieve a reduced bit rate by transmitting filter coefficients and quantized noise rather than a full bandwidth speech signal.

However, even these reduced bit rates often exceed the available bandwidth where the speech signal must either propagate a long distance (e.g., ground to satellite) or coexist with many other signals in a crowded channel. A need therefore exists for an improved coding scheme which achieves a lower bit rate than linear predictive schemes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a novel and improved method and apparatus for the variable rate coding of a speech signal. The present invention classifies the input speech signal and selects an appropriate coding mode based on this classification. For each classification, the present invention selects the coding mode that achieves the lowest bit rate with an acceptable quality of speech reproduction. The present invention achieves low average bit rates by only employing high fidelity modes (i.e., high bit rate, broadly applicable to different types of speech) during portions of the speech where this fidelity is required for acceptable output. The present invention switches to lower bit rate modes during portions of speech where these modes produce acceptable output.

An advantage of the present invention is that speech is coded at a low bit rate. Low bit rates translate into higher capacity, greater range, and lower power requirements.

A feature of the present invention is that the input speech signal is classified into active and inactive regions. Active regions are further classified into voiced, unvoiced, and transient regions. The present invention therefore can apply various coding modes to different types of active speech, depending upon the required level of fidelity.

Another feature of the present invention is that coding modes may be utilized according to the strengths and weaknesses of each particular mode. The present invention dynamically switches between these modes as properties of the speech signal vary with time.

A further feature of the present invention is that, where appropriate, regions of speech are modeled as pseudo-random noise, resulting in a significantly lower bit rate. The present invention uses this coding in a dynamic fashion whenever unvoiced speech or background noise is detected.

The features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

The term “coding” as used herein refers generally to methods encompassing both encoding and decoding. Generally, coding methods and apparatuses seek to minimize the number of bits transmitted via transmission medium 106 (i.e., minimize the bandwidth of Senc(n)) while maintaining acceptable speech reproduction (i.e., ŝ(n)=s(n)). The composition of the encoded speech signal will vary according to the particular speech coding method. Various encoders 102, decoders 104, and the coding methods according to which they operate are described below.

The components of encoder 102 and decoder 104 described below may be implemented as electronic hardware, as computer software, or combinations of both. These components are described below in terms of their functionality. Whether the functionality is implemented as hardware or software will depend upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans will recognize the interchangeability of hardware and software under these circumstances, and how best to implement the described functionality for each particular application.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that transmission medium 106 can represent many different transmission media, including, but not limited to, a land-based communication line, a link between a base station and a satellite, wireless communication between a cellular telephone and a base station, or between a cellular telephone and a satellite.

Those skilled in the art will also recognize that often each party to a communication transmits as well as receives. Each party would therefore require an encoder 102 and a decoder 104. However, signal tranmission environment 100 will be described below as including encoder 102 at one end of transmission medium 106 and decoder 104 at the other.

Skilled artisans will readily recognize how to extend these ideas to two-way communication.

For purposes of this description, assume that s(n) is a digital speech signal obtained during a typical conversation including different vocal sounds and periods of silence. The speech signal s(n) is preferably partitioned into frames, and each frame is further partitioned into subframes (preferably 4). These arbitrarily chosen frame/subframe boundaries are commonly used where some block processing is performed, as is the case here. Operations described as being performed on frames might also be performed on subframes-in this sense, frame and subframe are used interchangeably herein. However, s(n) need not be partitioned into frames/subframes at all if continuous processing rather than block processing is implemented. Skilled artisans will readily recognize how the block techniques described below might be extended to continuous processing.

In a preferred embodiment, s(n) is digitally sampled at 8 kHz. Each frame preferably contains 20 ms of data, or 160 samples at the preferred 8 kHz rate. Each subframe therefore contains 40 samples of data. It is important to note that many of the equations presented below assume these values. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that while these parameters are appropriate for speech coding, they are merely exemplary and other suitable alternative parameters could be used.

Overview of the Invention

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention involve coding the speech signal s(n). FIG. 2 depicts encoder 102 and decoder 104 in greater detail. According to the present invention, encoder 102 includes an initial parameter calculation module 202, a classification module 208, and one or more encoder modes 204. Decoder 104 includes one or more decoder modes 206. The number of decoder modes, Nd, in general equals the number of encoder modes, Ne. As would be apparent to one skilled in the art, encoder mode 1 communicates with decoder mode 1, and so on. As shown, the encoded speech signal, Senc(n), is transmitted via transmission medium 106.

In a preferred embodiment, encoder 102 dynamically switches between multiple encoder modes from frame to frame, depending on which mode is most appropriate given the properties of s(n) for the current frame. Decoder 104 also dynamically switches between the corresponding decoder modes from frame to frame. A particular mode is chosen for each frame to achieve the lowest bit rate available while maintaining acceptable signal reproduction at the decoder. This process is referred to as variable rate speech coding, because the bit rate of the coder changes over time (as properties of the signal change).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 that describes variable rate speech coding according to the present invention. In step 302, initial parameter calculation module 202 calculates various parameters based on the current frame of data. In a preferred embodiment, these parameters include one or more of the following: linear predictive coding (LPC) filter coefficients, line spectrum information (LSI) coefficients, the normalized autocorrelation functions (NACFs), the open loop lag, band energies, the zero crossing rate, and the formant residual signal.

In step 304, classification module 208 classifies the current frame as containing either “active” or “inactive” speech. As described above, s(n) is assumed to include both periods of speech and periods of silence, common to an ordinary conversation. Active speech includes spoken words, whereas inactive speech includes everything else, e.g., background noise, silence, pauses. The methods used to classify speech as active/inactive according to the present invention are described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 3, step 306 considers whether the current frame was classified as active or inactive in step 304. If active, control flow proceeds to step 308. If inactive, control flow proceeds to step 310.

Those frames which are classified as active are further classified in step 308 as either voiced, unvoiced, or transient frames. Those skilled in the art will recognize that human speech can be classified in many different ways. Two conventional classifications of speech are voiced and unvoiced sounds. According to the present invention, all speech which is not voiced or unvoiced is classified as transient speech.

FIG. 4A depicts an example portion of s(n) including voiced speech 402. Voiced sounds are produced by forcing air through the glottis with the tension of the vocal cords adjusted so that they vibrate in a relaxed oscillation, thereby producing quasi-periodic pulses of air which excite the vocal tract. One common property measured in voiced speech is the pitch period, as shown in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4B depicts an example portion of s(n) including unvoiced speech 404. Unvoiced sounds are generated by forming a constriction at some point in the vocal tract (usually toward the mouth end), and forcing air through the constriction at a high enough velocity to produce turbulence. The resulting unvoiced speech signal resembles colored noise.

FIG. 4C depicts an example portion of s(n) including transient speech 406 (i.e., speech which is neither voiced nor unvoiced). The example transient speech 406 shown in FIG. 4C might represent s(n) transitioning between unvoiced speech and voiced speech. Skilled artisans will recognize that many different classifications of speech could be employed according to the techniques described herein to achieve comparable results.

In step 310, an encoder/decoder mode is selected based on the frame classification made in steps 306 and 308. The various encoder/decoder modes are connected in parallel, as shown in FIG. 2. One or more of these modes can be operational at any given time. However, as described in detail below, only one mode preferably operates at any given time, and is selected according to the classification of the current frame.

Several encoder/decoder modes are described in the following sections. The different encoder/decoder modes operate according to different coding schemes. Certain modes are more effective at coding portions of the speech signal s(n) exhibiting certain properties.

In a preferred embodiment, a “Code Excited Linear Predictive” (CELP) mode is chosen to code frames classified as transient speech. The CELP mode excites a linear predictive vocal tract model with a quantized version of the linear prediction residual signal. Of all the encoder/decoder modes described herein, CELP generally produces the most accurate speech reproduction but requires the highest bit rate. In one embodiment, the CELP mode performs encoding at 8500 bits per second.

A “Prototype Pitch Period” (PPP) mode is preferably chosen to code frames classified as voiced speech. Voiced speech contains slowly time varying periodic components which are exploited by the PPP mode. The PPP mode codes only a subset of the pitch periods within each frame. The remaining periods of the speech signal are reconstructed by interpolating between these prototype periods. By exploiting the periodicity of voiced speech, PPP is able to achieve a lower bit rate than CELP and still reproduce the speech signal in a perceptually accurate manner. In one embodiment, the PPP mode performs encoding at 3900 bits per second.

The same coding technique can frequently be operated at different bit rates, with varying levels of performance. The different encoder/decoder modes in FIG. 2 can therefore represent different coding techniques, or the same coding technique operating at different bit rates, or combinations of the above. Skilled artisans will recognize that increasing the number of encoder/decoder modes will allow greater flexibility when choosing a mode, which can result in a lower average bit rate, but will increase complexity within the overall system. The particular combination used in any given system will be dictated by the available system resources and the specific signal environment.

In step 312, the selected encoder mode 204 encodes the current frame and preferably packs the encoded data into data packets for transmission. And in step 314, the corresponding decoder mode 206 unpacks the data packets, decodes the received data and reconstructs the speech signal. These operations are described in detail below with respect to the appropriate encoder/decoder modes.

Initial Parameter Determination

FIG. 5 is a flowchart describing step 302 in greater detail. Various initial parameters are calculated according to the present invention. The parameters preferably include, e.g., LPC coefficients, line spectrum information (LSI) coefficients, normalized autocorrelation functions (NACFs), open loop lag, band energies, zero crossing rate, and the formant residual signal. These parameters are used in various ways within the overall system, as described below.

In a preferred embodiment, initial parameter calculation module 202 uses a “look ahead” of 160+40 samples. This serves several purposes. First, the 160 sample look ahead allows a pitch frequency track to be computed using information in the next frame, which significantly improves the robustness of the voice coding and the pitch period estimation techniques, described below. Second, the 160 sample look ahead also allows the LPC coefficients, the frame energy, and the voice activity to be computed for one frame in the future. This allows for efficient, multi-frame quantization of the frame energy and LPC coefficients. Third, the additional 40 sample look ahead is for calculation of the LPC coefficients on Hamming windowed speech as described below. Thus the number of samples buffered before processing the current frame is 160+160+40 which includes the current frame and the 160+40 sample look ahead.

Calculation of LPC Coefficients

The present invention utilizes an LPC prediction error filter to remove the short term redundancies in the speech signal. The transfer function for the LPC filter is:

A⁡(z)=1-∑i=110⁢ai⁢z-i

The present invention preferably implements a tenth-order filter, as shown in the previous equation. An LPC synthesis filter in the decoder reinserts the redundancies, and is given by the inverse of A(z):

1A⁡(z)=11-∑i=110⁢ai⁢z-i

In step 502, the LPC coefficients, ai, are computed from s(n) as follows. The LPC parameters are preferably computed for the next frame during the encoding procedure for the current frame.

A Hamming window is applied to the current frame centered between the 119th and 120th samples (assuming the preferred 160 sample frame with a “look ahead”). The windowed speech signal, sw(n) is given by:

sw⁡(n)=s⁡(n+40)⁢(0.5+0.46*cos(π⁢n-79.580)),0≤n<160

The offset of 40 samples results in the window of speech being centered between the 119th and 120th sample of the preferred 160 sample frame of speech.

Eleven autocorrelation values are preferably computed as

R⁡(k)=∑m=0159-k⁢sw⁡(m)⁢sw⁡(m+k),0≤k≤10

The autocorrelation values are windowed to reduce the probability of missing roots of line spectral pairs (LSPs) obtained from the LPC coefficients, as given by:
R(k)=h(k)R(k), 0≦k≦10

resulting in a slight bandwidth expansion, e.g., 25 Hz. The values h(k) are preferably taken from the center of a 255 point Hamming window.

The LPC coefficients are then obtained from the windowed autocorrelation values using Durbin's recursion. Durbin's recursion, a well known efficient computational method, is discussed in the text Digital Processing of Speech Signals by Rabiner & Schafer.

LSI Calculation

In step 504, the LPC coefficients are transformed into line spectrum information (LSI) coefficients for quantization and interpolation. The LSI coefficients are computed according to the present invention in the following manner.

The stability of the LPC filter guarantees that the roots of the two functions alternate, i.e., the smallest root, lsc1, is the smallest root of P′(x), the next smallest root, lsc2, is the smallest root of Q′(x), etc. Thus, lsc1, lsc3, lsc5, lsc7, and lsc9 are the roots of P′(x), and lsc2, lsc4, lsc6, lsc8, and lsc10 are the roots of Q′(x).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is preferable to employ some method for computing the sensitivity of the LSI coefficients to quantization. “Sensitivity weightings” can be used in the quantization process to appropriately weight the quantization error in each LSI.

The LSI coefficients are quantized using a multistage vector quantizer (VQ). The number of stages preferably depends on the particular bit rate and codebooks employed. The codebooks are chosen based on whether or not the current frame is voiced.

The vector quantization minimizes a weighted-mean-squared error (WMSE) which is defined as

E⁡(x→,y→)=∑i=0P-1⁢wi⁡(xi-yi)2

where {right arrow over (x)} is the vector to be quantized, {right arrow over (w)} the weight associated with it, and {right arrow over (y)} is the codevector. In a preferred embodiment, {right arrow over (w)} are sensitivity weightings and P=10.

The LSI vector is reconstructed from the LSI codes obtained by way of quantization as

q⁢⁢l→⁢⁢si=∑i=1N⁢CB⁢⁢i→codei
where CBi is the ith stage VQ codebook for either voiced or unvoiced frames (this is based on the code indicating the choice of the codebook) and codei is the LSI code for the ith stage.

Before the LSI coefficients are transformed to LPC coefficients, a stability check is performed to ensure that the resulting LPC filters have not been made unstable due to quantization noise or channel errors injecting noise into the LSI coefficients. Stability is guaranteed if the LSI coefficients remain ordered.

In calculating the original LPC coefficients, a speech window centered between the 119th and 120th sample of the frame was used. The LPC coefficients for other points in the frame are approximated by interpolating between the previous frame's LSCs and the current frame's LSCs. The resulting interpolated LSCs are then converted back into LPC coefficients. The exact interpolation used for each subframe is given by:
ilscj=(1−αi)lscprevj+αilsccurrj, 1≦j≦10

where αi are the interpolation factors 0.375, 0.625, 0.875, 1.000 for the four subframes of 40 samples each and ilsc are the interpolated LSCs. {circumflex over (P)}A(z) and {circumflex over (Q)}A(z) are computed by the interpolated LSCs as

The interpolated LPC coefficients for all four subframes are computed as coefficients of

A^⁡(z)=P^A⁡(z)+Q^A⁡(z)2

Thus,

ai^={-pi^+qi^21≤i≤5-p^11-i-q^11-i26≤i≤10
NACF Calculation

In step 506, the normalized autocorrelation functions (NACFs) are calculated according to the current invention.

The formant residual for the next frame is computed over four 40 sample subframes as

r⁡(n)=s⁡(n)-∑i=110⁢a~i⁢s⁡(n-i)

where ãi is the ith interpolated LPC coefficient of the corresponding subframe, where the interpolation is done between the current frame's unquantized LSCs and the next frame's LSCs. The next frame's energy is also computed as

where F=2 is the decimation factor, and r(Fn+i), −7 æ Fn+i≦6 are obtained from the last 14 values of the current frame's residual based on unquantized LPC coefficients. As mentioned above, these LPC coefficients are computed and stored during the previous frame.

The NACFs for two subframes (40 samples decimated) of the next frame are calculated as follows:

For rd(n) with negative n, the current frame's low-pass filtered and decimated residual (stored during the previous frame) is used. The NACFs for the current subframe c_corr were also computed and stored during the previous frame.

Pitch Track and Lag Calculation

In step 508, the pitch track and pitch lag are computed according to the present invention. The pitch lag is preferably calculated using a Viterbi-like search with a backward track as follows.

where cfj is the interpolation filter whose coefficients are {−0.0625, 0.5625, 0.5625, −0.0625}. The lag LC is then chosen such that RLc-12=max{Ri}, 4≦i≦116 and the current frame's NACF is set equal to RLC-12/4. Lag multiples are then removed by searching for the lag corresponding to the maximum correlation greater than 0.9 RLC-12 amidst:
Rmax{└LC/M┘−14,16} . . . R└LC/M┘−10 for all 1≦M≦└LC/16 ┘.
Calculation of Band Energy and Zero Crossing Rate

In step 510, energies in the 0-2 kHz band and 2 kHz-4 kHz band are computed according to the present invention as

E=∑i=0159⁢s2⁡(n).
The zero crossing rate ZCR is computed as
if(s(n)s(n+1)<0)ZCR=ZCR+1, 0≦n≦159
Calculation of the Formant Residual

In step 512, the formant residual for the current frame is computed over four subframes as

rcurr⁡(n)=s⁡(n)-∑i=110⁢a^i⁢s⁡(n-i)

where {circumflex over (α)}i is the ith LPC coefficient of the corresponding subframe.

Active/Inactive Speech Classification

Referring back to FIG. 3, in step 304, the current frame is classified as either active speech (e.g., spoken words) or inactive speech (e.g., background noise, silence). FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 that depicts step 304 in greater detail. In a preferred embodiment, a two energy band based thresholding scheme is used to determine if active speech is present. The lower band (band 0) spans frequencies from 0.1-2.0 kHz and the upper band (band 1) from 2.0-4.0 kHz. Voice activity detection is preferably determined for the next frame during the encoding procedure for the current frame, in the following manner.

In step 602, the band energies Eb[i] for bands i=0, 1 are computed. The autocorrelation sequence, as described above in Section III.A., is extended to 19 using the following recursive equation:

R⁡(k)=∑i=110⁢ai⁢R⁡(k-i),11≤k≤19

Using this equation, R(11) is computed from R(1) to R(10), R(12) is computed from R(2) to R(11), and so on. The band energies are then computed from the extended autocorrelation sequence using the following equation:

Eb⁡(i)=log2⁡(R⁡(0)⁢⁢Rh⁡(0)⁢(0)+2⁢⁢∑k=119⁢R⁡(k)⁢⁢Rh⁡(i)⁢(k)),i=0,1

where R(k) is the extended autocorrelation sequence for the current frame and Rh(i)(k) is the band filter autocorrelation sequence for band i given in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Filter Autocorrelation Sequences for Band Energy Calculations

k

Rh(0)(k) band 0

Rh(1(k) band 1

0

4.230889E−01

4.042770E−01

1

2.693014E−01

−2.503076E−01

2

−1.124000E−02

−3.059308E−02

3

−1.301279E−01

1.497124E−01

4

−5.949044E−02

−7.905954E−02

5

1.494007E−02

4.371288E−03

6

−2.087666E−03

−2.088545E−02

7

−3.823536E−02

5.622753E−02

8

−2.748034E−02

−4.420598E−02

9

3.015699E−04

1.443167E−02

10

3.722060E−03

−8.462525E−03

11

−6.416949E−03

1.627144E−02

12

−6.551736E−03

−1.476080E−02

13

5.493820E−04

6.187041E−03

14

2.934550E−03

−1.898632E−03

15

8.041829E−04

2.053577E−03

16

−2.857628E−04

−1.860064E−03

17

2.585250E−04

7.729618E−04

18

4.816371E−04

−2.297862E−04

19

1.692738E−04

2.107964E−04

In step 604, the band energy estimates are smoothed. The smoothed band energy estimates, Esm(i), are updated for each frame using the following equation.
Esm(i)=0.6Esm(i)+0.4Eb(i), i=0,1

In step 606, signal energy and noise energy estimates are updated. The signal energy estimates, Es(i), are preferably updated using the following equation:
Es(i)=max(Esm(i), Es(i)), i=0,1

The noise energy estimates, En(i), are preferably updated using the following equation:
En(i)=min(Esm(i), En(i)), i=0,1

In step 608, the long term signal-to-noise ratios for the two bands, SNR(i), are computed as
SNR(i)=Es(i)−En(i), i=0,1

In step 610, these SNR values are preferably divided into eight regions RegSNR(i) defined as

In step 612, the voice activity decision is made in the following manner according to the current invention. If either Eb(0)-En(0)>THRESH(RegSNR(0)), or Eb(1)-En(1)>THRESH(RegSNR(1)), then the frame of speech is declared active. Otherwise, the frame of speech is declared inactive. The values of THRESH are defined in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Threshold Factors as A function of the SNR Region

SNR Region

THRESH

0

2.807

1

2.807

2

3.000

3

3.104

4

3.154

5

3.233

6

3.459

7

3.982

The signal energy estimates, Es(i), are preferably updated using the following equation:
Es(i)=Es(i)−0.014499, i=0,1.

The noise energy estimates, En(i), are preferably updated using the following equation:

When signal-to-noise ratios are low, “hangover” frames are preferably added to improve the quality of the reconstructed speech. If the three previous frames were classified as active, and the current frame is classified inactive, then the next M frames including the current frame are classified as active speech. The number of hangover frames, M, is preferably determined as a function of SNR(0) as defined in Table 3.

TABLE 3

Hangover Frames as a Function of SNR(0)

SNR(0)

M

0

4

1

3

2

3

3

3

4

3

5

3

6

3

7

3

Classification of Active Speech Frames

Referring back to FIG. 3, in step 308, current frames which were classified as step 304 are further classified according to properties exhibited by the speech signal s(n). In a preferred embodiment, active speech is classified as either voiced, unvoiced, or transient. The degree of periodicity exhibited by the active speech signal determines how it is classified. Voiced speech exhibits the highest degree of periodicity (quasi-periodic in nature). Unvoiced speech exhibits little or no periodicity. Transient speech exhibits degrees of periodicity between voiced and unvoiced.

However, the general framework described herein is not limited to the preferred classification scheme and the specific encoder/decoder modes described below. Active speech can be classified in alternative ways, and alternative encoder/decoder modes are available for coding. Those skilled in the art will recognize that many combinations of classifications and encoder/decoder modes are possible. Many such combinations can result in a reduced average bit rate according to the general framework described herein, i.e., classifying speech as inactive or active, further classifying active speech, and then coding the speech signal using encoder/decoder modes particularly suited to the speech falling within each classification.

Although the active speech classifications are based on degree of periodicity, the classification decision is preferably not based on some direct measurement of periodicty. Rather, the classification decision is based on various parameters calculated in step 302, e.g., signal to noise ratios in the upper and lower bands and the NACFs. The preferred classification may be described by the following pseudo-code:

if not(previousN ACF < 0.5 and currentN ACF > 0.6)

if (currentN ACF < 0.75 and ZCR > 60) UNVOICED

else if (previousN ACF < 0.5 and currentN ACF < 0.55

and ZCR > 50) UNVOICED

else if (currentN ACF < 0.4 and ZCR > 40) UNVOICED

if (UNVOICED and currentSNR > 28 dB

and EL >_EH) TRANSIENT

if (previousN ACF < 0.5 and currentN ACF < 0.5

and E < 5e4 + N) UNVOICED

if (VOICED and low-bandSNR > high-bandSNR

and previousN ACF < 0.8 and

0.6 < currentN ACF < 0.75) TRANSIENT

where

α={1.0,E>5⁢e⁢⁢5+Nnoise20.0,E≤5⁢e⁢⁢5+Nnoise

and Nnoise is an estimate of the background noise. Eprev is the previous frame's input energy.

The method described by this pseudo code can be refined according to the specific environment in which it is implemented. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the various thresholds given above are merely exemplary, and could require adjustment in practice depending upon the implementation. The method may also be refined by adding additional classification categories, such as dividing TRANSIENT into two categories: one for signals transitioning from high to low energy, and the other for signals transitioning from low to high energy.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other methods are available for distinguishing voiced, unvoiced, and transient active speech. Similarly, skilled artisans will recognize that other classification schemes for active speech are also possible.

I. Encoder/Decoder Mode Selection

In step 310, an encoder/decoder mode is selected based on the classification of the current frame in steps 304 and 308. According to a preferred embodiment, modes are selected as follows: inactive frames and active unvoiced frames are coded using a NELP mode, active voiced frames are coded using a PPP mode, and active transient frames are coded using a CELP mode. Each of these encoder/decoder modes is described in detail in following sections.

In an alternative embodiment, inactive frames are coded using a zero rate mode Skilled artisans will recognize that many alternative zero rate modes are available which require very low bit rates. The selection of a zero rate mode may be further refined by considering past mode selections. For example, if the previous frame was classified as active, this may preclude the selection of a zero rate mode for the current frame. Similarly, if the next frame is active, a zero rate mode may be precluded for the current frame. Another alternative is to preclude the selection of a zero rate mode for too many consecutive frames (e.g., 9 consecutive frames). Those skilled in the art will recognize that many other modifications might be made to the basic mode selection decision in order to refine its operation in certain environments.

As described above, many other combinations of classifications and encoder/decoder modes might be alternatively used within this same framework. The following sections provide detailed descriptions of several encoder/decoder modes according to the present invention. The CELP mode is described first, followed by the PPP mode and the NELP mode.

Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) Coding Mode

As described above, the CELP encoder/decoder mode is employed when the current frame is classified as active transient speech. The CELP mode provides the most accurate signal reproduction (as compared to the other modes described herein) but at the highest bit rate.

Pitch encoding module 702 receives the speech signal s(n) and the quantized residual from the previous frame, pc(n) (described below). Based on this input, pitch encoding module 702 generates a target signal x(n) and a set of pitch filter parameters. In a preferred embodiment, these pitch filter parameters include an optimal pitch lag L* and an optimal pitch gain b*. These parameters are selected according to an “analysis-by-synthesis” method in which the encoding process selects the pitch filter parameters that minimize the weighted error between the input speech and the synthesized speech using those parameters.

Delay and gain 810 outputs an estimated pitch filter output bpL(n) for a given pitch lag L and pitch gain b. Delay and gain 810 receives the quantized residual samples from the previous frame, pc(n), and an estimate of future output of the pitch filter, given by po(n), and forms p(n) according to:

p⁡(n)={pc⁡(n)-128<n<0po⁡(n)0≤n<Lp

which is then delayed by L samples and scaled by b to form bpL(n). Lp is the subframe length (preferably 40 samples). In a preferred embodiment, the pitch lag, L, is represented by 8 bits and can take on values 20.0, 20.5, 21.0, 21.5, . . . 126.0, 126.5, 127.0, 127.5.

Weighted LPC analysis filter 808 filters bpL(n) using the current LPC coefficients resulting in byL(n). Adder 816 sums a negative input byL(n) with x(n), the output of which is received by minimize sum of squares 812. Minimize sum of squares 812 selects the optimal L, denoted by L* and the optimal b, denoted by b*, as those values of L and b that minimize Epitch(L) according to:

Epitch⁡(L)=∑n=0Lp-1⁢{x⁡(n)-byL⁡(n)}2

If

Exy⁡(L)=Δ__⁢⁢∑n=0Lp-1⁢x⁡(n)⁢⁢yL⁡(n)andEyy⁡(L)=Δ__⁢⁢∑n=0Lp-1⁢yL⁡(n)2,
then the value of b which minimizes Epitch (L) for a given value of L is

b*=Exy⁡(L)Eyy⁡(L)

for which

Epitch⁡(L)=K-Exy⁡(L)2Eyy⁡(L)

where K is a constant that can be neglected.

The optimal values of L and b (L* and b*) are found by first determining the value of L which minimizes Epitch(L) and then computing b*.

These pitch filter parameters are preferably calculated for each subframe and then quantized for efficient transmission. In a preferred embodiment, the transmission codes PLAGj and PGAINj for the jth subframe are computed as

PGAINj=⌊min⁢{b*,2}⁢82+0.5⌋-1PLAGj={0,PGAINj=-12⁢L*,0≤PGAINj<8

PGAINj is then adjusted to −1 if PLAGj is set to 0. These transmission codes are transmitted to CELP decoder mode 206 as the pitch filter parameters, part of the encoded speech signal Senc(n).

Encoding Codebook

Encoding codebook 704 receives the target signal x(n) and determines a set of codebook excitation parameters which are used by CELP decoder mode 206, along with the pitch filter parameters, to reconstruct the quantized residual signal.

where ypzir(n) is the output of the weighted LPC synthesis filter (with memories retained from the end of the previous subframe) to an input which is the zero-input-response of the pitch filter with parameters {circumflex over (L)}* and {circumflex over (b)}* (and memories resulting from the previous subframe's processing).

A backfiltered target {right arrow over (d)}={dn}, 0≦n<40 is created as {right arrow over (d)}=HT{right arrow over (x)} where

H=[h000…0h1h00…0……………h39h38h37…h0]

is the impulse response matrix formed from the impulse response {hn} and {right arrow over (x)}={x(n)}, 0≦n<40. Two more vectors {right arrow over (φ)}={φn} and {right arrow over (s)} are created as well.

Lower bit rate embodiments of the CELP encoder/decoder mode may be realized by removing pitch encoding module 702 and only performing a codebook search to determine an index I and gain G for each of the four subframes. Those skilled in the art will recognize how the ideas described above might be extended to accomplish this lower bit rate embodiment.

Pitch filter 710 decodes the pitch filter parameters from the received transmission codes according to:

L^*=PLAGj2b^*={0,L^*=028⁢PGAINj,L^*≠0

Pitch filter 710 then filters Gcb(n), where the filter has a transfer function given by

1P⁡(z)=11-b*z-L*

In a preferred embodiment, CELP decoder mode 206 also adds an extra pitch filtering operation, a pitch prefilter (not shown), after pitch filter 710. The lag for the pitch prefilter is the same as that of pitch filter 710, whereas its gain is preferably half of the pitch gain up to a maximum of 0.5.

Filter update module 706 synthesizes speech as described in the previous section in order to update filter memories. Filter update module 706 receives the codebook excitation parameters and the pitch filter parameters, generates an excitation signal cb(n), pitch filters Gcb(n), and then synthesizes ŝ(n). By performing this synthesis at the encoder, memories in the pitch filter and in the LPC synthesis filter are updated for use when processing the following subframe.

I. Prototype Pitch Period (PPP) Coding Mode

Prototype pitch period (PPP) coding exploits the periodicity of a speech signal to achieve lower bit rates than may be obtained using CELP coding. In general, PPP coding involves extracting a representative period of the residual signal, referred to herein as the prototype residual, and then using that prototype to construct earlier pitch periods in the frame by interpolating between the prototype residual of the current frame and a similar pitch period from the previous frame (i.e., the prototype residual if the last frame was PPP). The effectiveness (in terms of lowered bit rate) of PPP coding depends, in part, on how closely the current and previous prototype residuals resemble the intervening pitch periods. For this reason, PPP coding is preferably applied to speech signals that exhibit relatively high degrees of periodicity (e.g., voiced speech), referred to herein as quasi-periodic speech signals.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart 1000 depicting the steps of PPP coding, including encoding and decoding. These steps are discussed along with the various components of PPP encoder mode 204 and PPP decoder mode 206.

Extraction Module

In step 1002, extraction module 904 extracts a prototype residual rp(n) from the residual signal r(n). As described above in Section III.F., initial parameter calculation module 202 employs an LPC analysis filter to compute r(n) for each frame. In a preferred embodiment, the LPC coefficients in this filter are perceptually weighted as described in Section VII.A. The length of rp(n) is equal to the pitch lag L computed by initial parameter calculation module 202 during the last subframe in the current frame.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting step 1002 in greater detail. PPP extraction module 904 preferably selects a pitch period as close to the end of the frame as possible, subject to certain restrictions discussed below. FIG. 12 depicts an example of a residual signal calculated based on quasi-periodic speech, including the current frame and the last subframe from the previous frame.

In step 1102, a “cut-free region” is determined. The cut-free region defines a set of samples in the residual which cannot be endpoints of the prototype residual. The cut-free region ensures that high energy regions of the residual do not occur at the beginning or end of the prototype (which could cause discontinuities in the output were it allowed to happen). The absolute value of each of the final L samples of r(n) is calculated. The variable PS is set equal to the time index of the sample with the largest absolute value, referred to herein as the “pitch spike.” For example, if the pitch spike occurred in the last sample of the final L samples, PS=L−1. In a preferred embodiment, the minimum sample of the cut-free region, CFmin, is set to be PS−6 or PS−0.25 L, whichever is smaller. The maximum of the cut-free region, CFmax, is set to be PS+6 or PS+0.25 L, whichever is larger.

In step 1104, the prototype residual is selected by cutting L samples from the residual. The region chosen is as close as possible to the end of the frame, under the constraint that the endpoints of the region cannot be within the cut-free region. The L samples of the prototype residual are determined using the algorithm described in the following pseudo-code:

Referring back to FIG. 10, in step 1004, rotational correlator 906 calculates a set of rotational parameters based on the current prototype residual, rp(n), and the prototype residual from the previous frame, rprev(n). These parameters describe how rprev(n) can best be rotated and scaled for use as a predictor of rp(n). In a preferred embodiment, the set of rotational parameters includes an optimal rotation R* and an optimal gain b*. FIG. 13 is a flowchart depicting step 1004 in greater detail.

In step 1302, the perceptually weighted target signal x(n), is computed by circularly filtering the prototype pitch residual period rp(n). This is achieved as follows. A temporary signal tmp1(n) is created from rp(n) as

tmp⁢⁢1⁢(n)={rp⁡(n),0≤n<L0,L≤n<2⁢L

which is filtered by the weighted LPC synthesis filter with zero memories to provide an output tmp2(n). In a preferred embodiment, the LPC coefficients used are the perceptually weighted coefficients corresponding to the last subframe in the current frame. The target signal x(n) is then given by
x(n)=tmp2(n)+tmp2(n+L),0≦n<L

In step 1304, the prototype residual from the previous frame, rprev(n), is extracted from the previous frame's quantized formant residual (which is also in the pitch filter's memories). The previous prototype residual is preferably defined as the last Lp values of the previous frame's formant residual, where Lp is equal to L if the previous frame was not a PPP frame, and is set to the previous pitch lag otherwise.

In step 1306, the length of rprev(n) is altered to be of the same length as x(n) so that correlations can be correctly computed. This technique for altering the length of a sampled signal is referred to herein as warping. The warped pitch excitation signal, rwprev(n), may be described as
rwprev(n)=rprev(n*TWF), 0≦n<L

where TWF is the time warping factor

LpL.
The sample values at non-integral points n*TWF are preferably computed using a set of sinc function tables. The sinc sequence chosen is sinc(−3−F:4−F) where F is the fractional part of n*TWF rounded to the nearest multiple of

18.

The beginning of this sequence is aligned with rprev((N−3) % Lp) where N is the integral part of n*TWF after being rounded to the nearest eighth.

In step 1308, the warped pitch excitation signal rwprev(n) is circularly filtered, resulting in y(n). This operation is the same as that described above with respect to step 1302, but applied to rwprev(n).

In step 1310, the pitch rotation search range is computed by first calculating an expected rotation Erot,

Erot=L-round⁢⁢(L⁢⁢frac⁢⁢((160-L)⁢(Lp+L)2⁢Lp⁢L))

where frac(x) gives the fractional part of x. If L<80, the pitch rotation search range is defined to be {Erot−8, Erot−7.5, . . . Erot+7.5}, and {Erot−16, Erot−15, . . . Erot+15} where L≦80.

In step 1312, the rotational parameters, optimal rotation R* and an optimal gain b*, are calculated. The pitch rotation which results in the best prediction between x(n) and y(n) is chosen along with the corresponding gain b. These parameters are preferably chosen to minimize the error signal e(n)=x(n)−y(n). The optimal rotation R* and the optimal gain b* are those values of rotation R and gain b which result in the maximum value of

ExyR2Eyy,

where

ExyR=∑i=0L-1⁢x⁡((i+R)⁢%⁢⁢L)⁢y⁡(i)⁢⁢and⁢⁢Eyy=∑i=0L-1⁢y⁡(i)⁢y⁡(i)
for which
the optimal gain b* is

ExyR*Eyy
at rotation R*. For fractional values of rotation, the value of ExyR is approximated by interpolating the values of ExyR computed at integer values of rotation. A simple four tap interplation filter is used. For example,
ExyR=0.54(ExyR′+ExyR′+1)−0.04*(ExyR′−1+ExyR′+2)

where R is a non-integral rotation (with precision of 0.5) and R′=|R|.

In a preferred embodiment, the rotational parameters are quantized for efficient transmission. The optimal gain b* is preferably quantized uniformly between 0.0625 and 4.0 as

PGAIN=max⁢{min⁡(⌊63⁢(b*-0.06254-0.0625)+0.5⌋,63),0}

where PGAIN is the transmission code and the quantized gain {circumflex over (b)}* is given by

max⁢{0.0625+(PGAIN⁢⁢(4-0.0625)63),0.0625}.

The optimal rotation R* is quantized as the transmission code PROT, which is set to 2(R*−Erot+8) if L<80, and R*−Erot+16 where L≦80.

Encoding Codebook

Referring back to FIG. 10, in step 1006, encoding codebook 908 generates a set of codebook parameters based on the received target signal x(n). Encoding codebook 908 seeks to find one or more codevectors which, when scaled, added, and filtered sum to a signal which approximates x(n). In a preferred embodiment, encoding codebook 908 is implemented as a multi-stage codebook, preferably three stages, where each stage produces a scaled codevector. The set of codebook parameters therefore includes the indexes and gains corresponding to three codevectors. FIG. 14 is a flowchart depicting step 1006 in greater detail.

In step 1402, before the codebook search is performed, the target signal x(n) is updated as
x(n)=x(n)−b y((n−R*)%L), 0≦n<L

If in the above subtraction the rotation R* is non-integral (i.e., has a fraction of 0.5), then

In step 1404, the codebook values are partitioned into multiple regions. According to a preferred embodiment, the codebook is determined as

c⁡(n)={1,n=00,0<n<LCBP⁡(n-L),L≤n<128+L

where CBP are the values of a stochastic or trained codebook. Those skilled in the art will recognize how these codebook values are generated. The codebook is partitioned into multiple regions, each of length L. The first region is a single pulse, and the remaining regions are made up of values from the stochastic or trained codebook. The number of regions N will be ┌128/L┐.

In step 1406, the multiple regions of the codebook are each circularly filtered to produce the filtered codebooks, yreg(n), the concatenation of which is the signal y(n). For each region, the circular filtering is performed as described above with respect to step 1302.

In step 1408, the filtered codebook energy, Eyy(reg), is computed for each region and stored:

Eyy⁡(reg)=∑i=0L-1⁢yreg⁡(i),⁢0≤reg<N

In step 1410, the codebook parameters (i.e., codevector index and gain) for each stage of the multi-stage codebook are computed. According to a preferred embodiment, let Region(I)=reg, defined as the region in which sample I resides, or

Region⁢⁢(I)={0,0≤I<L1,L≤I<2⁢L2,2⁢L≤I<3⁢L……

and let Exy(I) be defined as

Exy⁢⁢(I)=∑i=0L-1⁢x⁡(i)⁢yRegion⁢⁢(I)⁡((i+I)⁢%⁢⁢L)

The codebook parameters, I* and G*, for the jth codebook stage are computed using the following pseudo-code.

According to a preferred embodiment, the codebook parameters are quantized for efficient transmission. The transmission code CBIj (j=stage number−0, 1 or 2) is preferably set to I* and the transmission codes CBGj and SIGNj are set by quantizing the gain G*.

SIGN⁢j={0,G*≥01,G*<0⁢⁢CBGj=⌊min⁢{max⁢{0,log2⁡(G*)},11.25}⁢43+0.5⌋

and the quantized gain Ĝ* is

G^*={20.75⁢⁢CBGjSIGN⁢j=0-20.75⁢⁢CBGj,SIGN⁢j≠0

The target signal x(n) is then updated by subtracting the contribution of the codebook vector of the current stage
x(n)=x(n)−Ĝ*yRegion(I*)((n+I*) % L), 0≦n<L

The above procedures starting from the pseudo-code are repeated to compute I*, G*, and the corresponding transmission codes, for the second and third stages.

Filter Update Module

Referring back to FIG. 10, in step 1008, filter update module 910 updates the filters used by PPP encoder mode 204. Two alternative embodiments are presented for filter update module 910, as shown in FIGS. 15A and 16A. As shown in the first alternative embodiment in FIG. 15A, filter update module 910 includes a decoding codebook 1502, a rotator 1504, a warping filter 1506, an adder 1510, an alignment and interpolation module 1508, an update pitch filter module 1512, and an LPC synthesis filter 1514. The second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16A, includes a decoding codebook 1602, a rotator 1604, a warping filter 1606, an adder 1608, an update pitch filter module 1610, a circular LPC synthesis filter 1612, and an update LPC filter module 1614. FIGS. 17 and 18 are flowcharts depicting step 1008 in greater detail, according to the two embodiments.

In step 1702 (and 1802, the first step of both embodiments), the current reconstructed prototype residual, rcurr(n), L samples in length, is reconstructed from the codebook parameters and rotational parameters. In a preferred embodiment, rotator 1504 (and 1604) rotates a warped version of the previous prototype residual according to the following:
rcurr((n+R*)% L)=brwprev(n), 0≦n<L

where rcurr is the current prototype to be created, rwprev is the warped (as described above in Section VIII.A., with

TWF=LpL)
version of the previous period obtained from the most recent L samples of the pitch filter memories, b the pitch gain and R the rotation obtained from packet transmission codes as

where I=CBIj and G is obtained from CBGj and SIGNj as described in the previous section, j being the stage number.

At this point, the two alternative embodiments for filter update module 910 differ. Referring first to the embodiment of FIG. 15A, in step 1704, alignment and interpolation module 1508 fills in the remainder of the residual samples from the beginning of the current frame to the beginning of the current prototype residual (as shown in FIG. 12). Here, the alignment and interpolation are performed on the residual signal. However, these same operations can also be performed on speech signals, as described below. FIG. 19 is a flowchart describing step 1704 in further detail.

In step 1902, it is determined whether the previous lag Lp is a double or a half relative to the current lag L. In a preferred embodiment, other multiples are considered too improbable, and are therefore not considered. If Lp>1.85 L, Lp is halved and only the first half of the previous period rprev(n) is used. If Lp<0.54 L, the current lag L is likely a double and consequently Lp is also doubled and the previous period rprev(n) is extended by repetition.

In step 1904, rprev(n) is warped to form rwprev(n) as described above with respect to step 1306, with

TWF=LpL,
so that the lengths of both prototype residuals are now the same. Note that this operation was performed in step 1702, as described above, by warping filter 1506. Those skilled in the art will recognize that step 1904 would be unnecessary if the output of warping filter 1506 were made available to alignment and interpolation module 1508.

In step 1906, the allowable range of alignment rotations is computed. The expected alignment rotation, EA, is computed to be the same as Erot as described above in Section VIII.B. The alignment rotation search range is defined to be {EA−δA, EA−δA+0.5, EA−δA+1, . . . , EA+δA−1.5, EA+δA−1}, where δA=max{6,0.15 L}.

In step 1908, the cross-correlations between the previous and current prototype periods for integer alignment rotations, R, are computed as

C⁡(A)=∑i=0L-1⁢rcurr⁡((i+A)⁢⁢%⁢⁢L)⁢⁢rwprev⁡(i)

and the cross-correlations for non-integral rotations A are approximated by interpolating the values of the correlations at integral rotation:
C(A)=0.54(C(A′)+C(A′+1))−0.04(C(A′−1)+C(A′+2))
C(A)=0.54(C(A′)+C(A′+1))−0.04(C(A′−1)+C(A′+2))

where A′=A−0.5.

In step 1910, the value of A (over the range of allowable rotations) which results in the maximum value of C(A) is chosen as the optimal alignment, A*.

In step 1912, the average lag or pitch period for the intermediate samples, Lαv, is computed in the following manner. A period number estimate, Nper, is computed as

Nper=round⁡(A*L+(160-L)⁢(Lp+L)2⁢Lp⁢L)

with the average lag for the intermediate samples given by

Lav=(160-L)⁢LNper⁢L-A*

In step 1914, the remaining residual samples in the current frame are calculated according to the following interpolation between the previous and current prototype residuals:

α=LLav.
The sample values at non-integral points ñ (equal to either n_ or n_+A*) are computed using a set of sinc function tables. The sinc sequence chosen is sinc(−3−F:4−F) where F is the fractional part of ñ rounded to the nearest multiple of

18.
The beginning of this sequence is aligned with rprev((N−3)% Lp) where N is the integral part of ñ after being rounded to the nearest eighth.

Note that this operation is essentially the same as warping, as described above with respect to step 1306. Therefore, in an alternative embodiment, the interpolation of step 1914 is computed using a warping filter. Those skilled in the art will recognize that economies might be realized by reusing a single warping filter for the various purposes described herein.

Returning to FIG. 17, in step 1706, update pitch filter module 1512 copies values from the reconstructed residual {circumflex over (r)}(n) to the pitch filter memories. Likewise, the memories of the pitch prefilter are also updated.

In step 1708, LPC synthesis filter 1514 filters the reconstructed residual {circumflex over (r)}(n), which has the effect of updating the memories of the LPC synthesis filter.

The second embodiment of filter update module 910, as shown in FIG. 16A, is now described. As described above with respect to step 1702, in step 1802, the prototype residual is reconstructed from the codebook and rotational parameters, resulting in rcurr(n).

where 131 is preferably the pitch filter order for a maximum lag of 127.5. In a preferred embodiment, the memories of the pitch prefilter are identically replaced by replicas of the current period rcurr(n):
pitch_prefilt_mem(i)=pitch_mem(i), 0≦i<131

In step 1806, rcurr(n) is circularly filtered as described in Section VIII.B., resulting in sc(n), preferably using perceptually weighted LPC coefficients.

In step 1808, values from sc(n), preferably the last ten values (for a 10th order LPC filter), are used to update the memories of the LPC synthesis filter.

PPP Decoder

Returning to FIGS. 9 and 10, in step 1010, PPP decoder mode 206 reconstructs the prototype residual rcurr(n) based on the received codebook and rotational parameters. Decoding codebook 912, rotator 914, and warping filter 918 operate in the manner described in the previous section. Period interpolator 920 receives the reconstructed prototype residual rcurr(n) and the previous reconstructed prorotype residual rprev(n), interpolates the samples between the two prototypes, and outputs synthesized speech signal ŝ(n). Period interpolator 920 is described in the following section.

Period Interpolator

In step 1012, period interpolator 920 receives rcurr(n) and outputs synthesized speech signal ŝ(n). Two alternative embodiments for period interpolator 920 are presented herein, as shown in FIGS. 15B and 16B. In the first alternative embodiment, FIG. 15B, period interpolator 920 includes an alignment and interpolation module 1516, an LPC synthesis filter 1518, and an update pitch filter module 1520. The second alternative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16B, includes a circular LPC synthesis filter 1616, an alignment and interpolation module 1618, an update pitch filter module 1622, and an update LPC filter module 1620. FIGS. 20 and 21 are flowcharts depicting step 1012 in greater detail, according to the two embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 15B, in step 2002, alignment and interpolation module 1516 reconstructs the residual signal for the samples between the current residual prototype rcurr(n) and the previous residual prototype rprev(n), forming {circumflex over (r)}(n). Alignment and interpolation module 1516 operates in the manner described above with respect to step 1704 (as shown in FIG. 19).

In step 2004, update pitch filter module 1520 updates the pitch filter memories based on the reconstructed residual signal {circumflex over (r)}(n), as described above with respect to step 1706.

In step 2006, LPC synthesis filter 1518 synthesizes the output speech signal ŝ(n) based on the reconstructed residual signal {circumflex over (r)}(n). The LPC filter memories are automatically updated when this operation is performed.

Referring now to FIGS. 16B and 21, in step 2102, update pitch filter module 1622 updates the pitch filter memories based on the reconstructed current residual prototype, rcurr(n), as described above with respect to step 1804.

In step 2104, circular LPC synthesis filter 1616 receives rcurr(n) and synthesizes a current speech prototype, sc(n) (which is L samples in length), as described above in Section VIII.B.

In step 2108, alignment and interpolation module 1618 reconstructs the speech samples between the previous prototype period and the current prototype period. The previous prototype residual, rprev(n), is circularly filtered (in an LPC synthesis configuration) so that the interpolation may proceed in the speech domain. Alignment and interpolation module 1618 operates in the manner described above with respect to step 1704 (see FIG. 19), except that the operations are performed on speech prototypes rather than residual prototypes. The result of the alignment and interpolation is the synthesized speech signal ŝ(n).

Noise Excited Linear Prediction (NELP) Coding Mode

Noise Excited Linear Prediction (NELP) coding models the speech signal as a pseudo-random noise sequence and thereby achieves lower bit rates than may be obtained using either CELP or PPP coding. NELP coding operates most effectively, in terms of signal reproduction, where the speech signal has little or no pitch structure, such as unvoiced speech or background noise.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart 2300 depicting the steps of NELP coding, including encoding and decoding. These steps are discussed along with the various components of NELP encoder mode 204 and NELP decoder mode 206.

In step 2302, energy estimator 2202 calculates the energy of the residual signal for each of the four subframes as

Esfi=0.5⁢⁢log2(∑n=40⁢i40⁢i+39⁢s2⁡(n)40),0≤i<4

In step 2304, encoding codebook 2204 calculates a set of codebook parameters, forming encoded speech signal senc(n). In a preferred embodiment, the set of codebook parameters includes a single parameter, index I0. Index I0 is set equal to the value of j which minimizes

∑i=03⁢(Esfi-SFEQ⁡(j,i))2where⁢⁢0≤j<128

The codebook vectors, SFEQ, are used to quantize the subframe energies Esfi and include a number of elements equal to the number of subframes within a frame (i.e., 4 in a preferred embodiment). These codebook vectors are preferably created according to standard techniques known to those skilled in the art for creating stochastic or trained codebooks.

In step 2306, decoding codebook 2206 decodes the received codebook parameters. In a preferred embodiment, the set of subframe gains Gi is decoded according to:

Gi=2SFEQ(I0,i), or

Gi=20.2SFEQ(I0, i)+0.8log2Gprev−2 (where the previous frame was coded using a

zero-rate coding scheme)

where 0≦i<4 and Gprev is the codebook excitation gain corresponding to the last subframe of the previous frame.

In step 2308, random number generator 2210 generates a unit variance random vector nz(n). This random vector is scaled by the appropriate gain Gi within each subframe in step 2310, creating the excitation signal Ginz(n).

In a preferred embodiment, a zero rate mode is also employed where the gain Gi and LPC parameters obtained from the most recent non-zero-rate NELP subframe are used for each subframe in the current frame. Those skilled in the art will recognize that this zero rate mode can effectively be used where multiple NELP frames occur in succession.

CONCLUSION

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

The previous description of the preferred embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (32)

1. A method of encoding a speech signal comprising:

(a) classifying the speech signal as either active or inactive speech;

(b) classifying said active speech into one of a plurality of types of active speech;

(c) selecting an encoder mode from a plurality of encoder modes based on whether the speech signal is active or inactive, and if active, based further on said type of active speech, wherein said plurality of encoder modes comprises a code excited linear prediction (CELP) encoder mode, a prototype pitch period (PPP) encoder mode, and a noise excited linear prediction (NELP) encoder mode; and

(d) encoding the speech signal according to said selected encoder mode to form an encoded speech signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising decoding said encoded speech signal according to said selected encoder mode, forming a synthesized speech signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each encoder mode has a predetermined bit rate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said CELP encoder mode is associated with a bit rate of about 8500 bits per second, said PPP encoder mode is associated with a bit rate of about 3900 bits per second, and said NELP encoder mode is associated with a bit rate of about 1550 bits per second.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said plurality of encoder modes further comprises a zero rate mode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of encoder modes comprises a NELP encoder mode, wherein the speech signal is represented by a residual signal generated by filtering the speech signal with a Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) analysis filter, and wherein said encoding comprises:

(i) estimating the energy of the residual signal, and

(ii) selecting a codevector from a first codebook, wherein said codevector approximates said estimated energy; and wherein decoding comprises:

(i) generating a random vector,

(ii) retrieving said codevector from a second codebook,

(iii) scaling said random vector based on said codevector, such that the energy of said scaled random vector approximates said estimated energy, and

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the speech signal is divided into frames, wherein each of said frames comprises two or more subframes, wherein estimating the energy comprises estimating the energy of the residual signal for each of said subframes, and wherein said codevector comprises a value approximating said estimated energy for each of said subframes.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said first codebook and said second codebook are stochastic codebooks.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said first codebook and said second codebook are trained codebooks.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamic switching between modes from one frame to another frame.

17. An apparatus comprising:

classification means for classifying a speech signal as active or inactive speech, and if active speech, for classifying the active speech as one of a plurality of types of active speech; and

a plurality of encoding means for encoding the speech signal as an encoded speech signal, wherein said encoding means are dynamically selected to encode the speech signal based on whether the speech signal is active or inactive, and if active, based further on said type of active speech, wherein said plurality of encoder means comprises a code excited linear prediction (CELP) encoding means, a prototype pitch period (PPP) encoding means, and a noise excited linear prediction (NELP) encoding means.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of decoding means for decoding said encoded speech signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said plurality of decoding means includes a CELP decoding means, a PPP decoding means, and a NELP decoding means.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each of said encoding means encodes at a predetermined bit rate.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said CELP encoding means encodes at a rate of about 8500 bits per second, said PPP encoding means encodes at a rate of about 3900 bits per second, and said NELP encoding means encodes at a rate of about 1550 bits per second.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said plurality of encoding means further includes a zero rate encoding means, and wherein said plurality of decoding means further includes a zero rate decoding means.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said plurality of types of active speech include voiced, unvoiced, and transient active speech.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said CELP encoding means is selected if said speech is classified as active transient speech, wherein said PPP encoding means is selected if said speech is classified as active voiced speech, and wherein said NELP encoding means is selected if said speech is classified as inactive speech or active unvoiced speech.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said encoded speech signal comprises codebook parameters and pitch filter parameters if said CELP encoding means is selected, codebook parameters and rotational parameters if said PPP encoding means is selected, or codebook parameters if said NELP encoding means is selected.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the speech signal is represented by a residual signal generated by filtering the speech signal with a Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) analysis filter, and wherein said plurality of encoding means includes a NELP encoding means comprising:

energy estimator means for calculating an estimate of the energy of the residual signal, and

encoding codebook means for selecting a codevector from a first codebook, wherein said codevector approximates said estimated energy;

and wherein said plurality of decoding means includes a NELP decoding means comprising:

random number generator means for generating a random vector,

decoding codebook means for retrieving said codevector from a second codebook,

multiply means for scaling said random vector based on said codevector, such that the energy of said scaled random vector approximates said estimate, and

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the speech signal is divided into frames, wherein each of said frames comprises two or more subframes, wherein said energy estimator means calculates an estimate of the energy of the residual signal for each of said subframes, and wherein said codevector comprises a value approximating said subframe estimate for each of said subframes.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said first codebook and said second codebook are stochastic codebooks.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said first codebook and said second codebook are trained codebooks.

31. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising means for dynamic switching between modes from one frame to another frame.

32. An apparatus comprising:

a classification module configured to classify a speech signal as active or inactive speech, and if active speech, to classify the active speech as one of a plurality of types of active speech; and a plurality of encoders configured to encode the speech signal as an encoded speech signal, wherein said encoders are dynamically selected to encode the speech signal based on whether the speech signal is active or inactive, and if active, based further on said type of active speech, wherein said plurality of encoders comprises a code excited linear prediction (CELP) encoding means, a prototype pitch period (PPP) encoding means, and a noise excited linear prediction (NELP) encoding means.